Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 Review

Everybody’s favorite marvel super heroes are back for another helping of RPG action. This time the focus is on the Civil War breaking out among super heroes, and you get to choose your side during the war. Anybody who played part 1 already knows just about everything about Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 feels very much like the first iteration of the series. There are a few key differences in the titles however. First, we have the addition of fusion powers which are basically supposed to be super flashy displays of destruction. Second, we have the ability to hold onto 2 healing orbs at a time that can then be used to heal one of your heroes in a moment of desperation. Both of these features I believe could have been done much better. A large portion of fusion powers are weak and uninspired making you wish you never used them.

The controls to select a hero to perform a fusion power with are not bad, but can sometimes cause you to select the wrong hero because you either cannot see the heroes through the swarms of enemies or because you need to perform a fusion move quickly to prevent a horrible death. There is nothing worse than wanting to clear a whole room with an amazing Wolverine/Iron Man combo and you accidentally perform the horrible Spider-man/Iron Man combo which allows you to kill maybe 2 guys compared to clearing the entire room. As for the healing orbs, they can be used on all your teammates but as far as I could tell the health and energy of your teammates was not visible unless you switched to that character making health orbs that can be used on a selectable teammate completely useless.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 by nature is a button masher with a hefty amount of RPG elements mixed in. The problem is that you have so many things locked at the beginning of the game that you are forced to really expend your hard earned points into two preset abilities. This really limits the RPG elements of the game making it feel almost like a forced linear progression. If anything they should have made certain abilities a lot more expensive so that if you really wanted a single point in the high level ability you could save all your experience for that one item. Instead they button hook you into a few limiting options.

The squad bonuses are in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 as well and so are the badges. For those of you that never played the original, when you put particular heroes into a group together you may unlock a squad bonus for using those heroes together, and badges are simply bonuses to stats you can equip after earning them through heroic deeds.

This game feels like it could have been sold as downloadable content for the original Marvel Ultimate Alliance. It is basically Marvel Ultimate Alliance with fusion powers added into the mix. So anyone who loved the original should also enjoy this sequel. Just like the original this game shines with 4 players playing together, and gets pretty boring playing single player. So, grab your closest friends when you pick this title up and you will have the most fun that this title offers.

Final Verdict

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 is a decent button masher with some RPG elements underneath. With more flexibility and RPG elements this game could have stood out from the original. Instead it feels like the same game with patched-in features.